Beyond M*lk

Plant milk is bigger than modern labels and supermarket aisles. This is our long-read series — the deep history, the science and the culture of the milks people have been making for five thousand years.

A tradition, not a trend. ♡

8 min read

The 5,000-Year Head Start: A Global History of Plant Milk

Plant milk isn't a modern fad. From Egyptian tiger-nut to Han-dynasty soy, humans have pressed "milk" from plants for at least 5,000 years.

7 min read

Liquid Gold: The Thousand-Year Story of Horchata de Chufa

How a pharaoh's tuber became Valencia's favourite summer drink — the real history of horchata de chufa, tiger-nut milk with a 1,000-year past.

7 min read

The Milk That Ruled the Middle Ages

Before refrigeration, almond milk ruled medieval kitchens — the fast-day loophole, the cookbooks obsessed with it, and its long road back.

7 min read

Bean Broth and Breakfast Bowls: The 2,000-Year Journey of Soy Milk

From a contested Chinese legend to a Shanghai laboratory, trace soy milk's 2,000-year journey — and why it's the plant milk closest to cow's.

7 min read

One Palm, Whole Voyage: How Coconut Milk Crossed the Biggest Ocean on Earth

How Austronesian seafarers carried the coconut across the Pacific — the "one palm, whole voyage" tree behind the world's great curries.

7 min read

The Accidental Revolution: How a Swedish Scientist Turned Oats Into the World's Favourite Milk

How food scientist Rickard Öste's lab work became Oatly, conquered specialty coffee, and made oat milk a global phenomenon — hype, wobble and all.

8 min read

The Milk Most Humans Can't Actually Drink

For most of the world's adults, digesting fresh milk is the exception, not the rule. The surprising, judgement-free science of lactase persistence.

7 min read

The Strange, Ancient Battle Over the Word "Milk"

Why almond "drink" isn't allowed to be almond "milk" in the EU — the law, the TofuTown ruling, and 800 years of linguistic history.

8 min read

Plant Milk and the Planet: The Honest Version

Plant milks beat dairy on emissions, land and water — but the real story has nuances worth knowing. The data, without the greenwashing.

7 min read

The New Milk Rush: Peas, Potatoes and Protein Made Without a Cow

Beyond oat and almond: pea, potato and hemp milks and lab-made dairy proteins are reshaping the carton. What an honest, plant-forward future of milk looks like.

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We commission short pieces from writers, chefs, historians and scientists — especially stories that start in a kitchen.

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